Week #4: Released in 1927, directed by Fritz Lang, 149 minutes. New to me.

LetterBoxd Score: 5 stars

Hugely ambitious in its visuals, world building, and overall storytelling, at least compared to what else I’ve seen from the films of this time (only 3!). I could easily imagine this being an intellectually impressive slog though; what really elevates it for me are two extraordinary performances that just got me excited anytime they were on screen. The more low-key of the two is Fritz Rasp as The Thin Man. He just radiates menace.

But the star of the show if Brigitte Helm playing a dual role as Maria and Evil Maria (actually the mechanical man in Maria’s guise). As Maria, she’s all soft lighting and gives off suffering saint vibes; as evil Maria, she is all twitchy contortions and cackling winks. Great to see a movie where a silent era woman gets to really cut loose with a character.

Sadly, the movie also seems to have established the Hollywood science fiction trope of pairing big visuals with weird technology based twists, but not really trying at all to be realistic about how a future society might work. C’est la vie.

Why would someone think it’s one of the ten greatest films ever made?

This one is special; besides setting up the playbook for so many things that would be adapted for the next century, it’s a movie that succeeded in actually entertaining me. Epic in its visual design, plus great acting. I want to see it again!

Next week: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans